Get rid of the career anxiety and dread before they kill you
If you search for the term “Sunday Scaries” you are likely to find many references that utilize the words “anxiety” and “dread” to establish the common feelings associated with the Sunday Scaries.
Anxiety shows up as a feeling of being on edge and nervous about the many bad things that you imagine are coming your way. You might feel irritable or tense and have physical symptoms such as head and stomach aches, muscle tension, and exhaustion. Meanwhile, dread can take the form of an overwhelming and nagging feeling of impending doom, and like worry, it can be hard to shake. Dread can lead to the loss of your hope, confidence, and aspirations. Together, anxiety and dread make quite a debilitating pair.
How does this show up for you? Maybe it took you most of the weekend to unwind and decompress and now it’s Sunday afternoon and your fragile calm is shattered. Your thoughts have taken a terrible turn to the week ahead and now your stomach is clenching and your heart is racing at the thought of all that is in front of you. Or, maybe you haven’t been able to feel a sense of calm in quite some time. You find yourself working or thinking about work 7 days a week and that feeling of anxiety and dread is a constant feeling that you carry with you ALL THE TIME.
Generally, we don’t feel anxiety and dread about things we enjoy, and that bring us satisfaction and fulfillment. Sure, we may feel some anxiety about taking on a challenging new task, but it is a good kind of stress that spurs us on and helps us to show up at our best. On the other hand, if chronic anxiety and dread are showing up consistently when you think about your job, it is signaling that there is something amiss in your career. Just like the pain you feel when you touch a hot stove helps by signaling to your brain to remove your hand before you get hurt, anxiety and dread are signals that need your attention.
So what are some steps you can take? Start by taking an inventory of when and where you are feeling the most anxiety and dread. Is it coming from a particular project that is challenging you in all the wrong ways? Is your boss micromanaging and stifling all of your creativity and innovation? Does your work culture feel less than psychologically safe? Just identifying the sources of the anxiety and dread can help to put a sliver of distance between you and the feelings.
Next, think about the smallest action you can take in the coming week to improve your situation and that can give you a quick positive boost. Perhaps you identify something in your current environment that you enjoy and make sure it is part of your daily schedule during the week. It doesn’t have to be big, it’s just a small life raft of respite. Take a look at the inventory you took related to what is causing the anxiety and dread. What’s the smallest change you can make related to one of the items on the list? Find these opportunities and experiment with taking small actions. Over time, these experiments can add up and help to calm the anxiety and dread.
Perhaps you would like a guide to walk with you through the getting unstuck from the Sunday Scaries process. If so, grab a time and we can talk about it: https://calendly.com/northdawncoach/consultation